Idealism

The Ravens continue to show interest in Casey Matthews , talking to the Oregon inside linebacker at the NFL Scouting Combine after meeting with him at last month's Senior Bowl. Matthews is considered a third- or fourth-round prospect who has drawn increased attention because his father, Clay Matthews Jr. , played 19 years in the NFL and his brother, Clay Matthews III , was the runner-up this year for NFL defensive player of the year. "Friends will ask me, 'Do you feel pressure?

For all the remarkable accomplishments of the just-ended lame-duck Congress, one of its most notable disappointments was the defeat of the Dream Act for children of illegal immigrants. The measure would have given a path to citizenship to children who, through no fault of their own, were illegally brought into the country by their parents, provided they later served in the military or attended college. By rights, the act should have been passed in the same spirit of bipartisan cooperation that produced so many other year-end legislative successes.

WikiLeaks reminded me of one of the world's oldest jokes: What is a diplomat? A diplomat is an honest man sent abroad to lie for his country. What bothers me is not that our officials sometimes tell lies for the greater benefit of the country. As a reporter in troubled places, I have sometimes had to tell lies. To enter Burma and China, I said I was a tourist. Had I said I was a reporter, I could not have gone and could not have written articles about the problems and the lives of the people I met there.

Religious tolerance is one of the bedrock principles of American democracy, and New York City acted courageously to uphold it this week when its Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to allow construction of a planned mosque and Islamic cultural center near ground zero in lower Manhattan. Opponents of the project had charged that permitting a Muslim house of worship close to the site where about 2,750 people lost their lives in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks would be tantamount to a slap in the face for families of the victims.

I read with regret about the closing of Ideal Federal Savings Bank, one of two banks closed by the FDIC ("Regulators shut Bay National, Ideal banks," July 10). Bay National, the other bank, had assets of about $282.2 million and deposits of $276.1 million. Ideal Federal's assets were listed at $6.3 million, with deposits of $5.8 million. The number of people employed at Bay National's two branches wasn't given. Ideal had two employees at its single branch. One was its president, Yvonne Lansey.

Two Baltimore-area banks failed Friday in the latest sign that many financial institutions are still suffering from the fallout of the mortgage crisis, even as the economy has begun to recover. Regulators closed Bay National Bank and Ideal Federal Savings Bank — both reeling from bad loans — but were able to find a buyer for only one of the community banks. Bay National's deposits have been sold to a newly created thrift, Bay Bank of Lutherville. Bay National's two branches in Lutherville and Salisbury will reopen Monday, and customer accounts will automatically be transferred to the new Bay Bank, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

At the age of 71, Stanley Mazaroff can look back on a rich life and can divide it into quarters. He was a pioneering Peace Corps volunteer, a successful law partner, an art student and now a published author for the second time. His book, "Henry Walters and Bernard Berenson: Collector and Connoisseur," published last month by the Johns Hopkins University Press, illuminates the often strained relationship between the Gilded Age collector and the art historian, an acknowledged expert on Italian Renaissance paintings.

Dyann Shaver from Madras, Ore., was looking for a recipe she has lost for making a nontraditional type of barbecue chicken that used concentrated lemonade in the sauce. She said that she found the recipe in an article about barbequing in Better Homes and Garden magazine in the 1970s. Steve Newman from Santa Rosa, Calif., shared his recipe for making barbequed chicken with lemonade concentrate. He said that while concentrated lemonade may seem like a surprising ingredient this chicken never fails to please.

"Hairspray," John Waters' nostalgic tribute to 1960s Baltimore, seems to have been destined to play at Toby's Dinner Theatre of Columbia, where it has found an ideal home. The musical is based on Waters' 1988 film and features book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan and music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman. It won eight Tony awards, including Best Musical and Best Original Score. I first saw it in 2003, before it won the Tonys. I was a fan from the opening scene, which re-creates a bygone Baltimore in all its Formstone glory.